Most people utilize their hands, or a washcloth, to lather soap and apply the lathered soap to the body during bathing. More recently, sponges, netting material or mesh material have been utilized as washcloths since they also provide an exfoliation function. The mesh sponges are provided in a substantially ball-like shape and include a thin, elongate nylon string which enables the sponges to be hung until further use. Examples of such sponges are provided by U.S. Pat. No. 5,650,384 issued to Gordon et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,727,278 issued to Per-Lee; U.S. Pat. No. 6,032,319 issued to Garello; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,144,744 issued to Campagnoli.
The typical ball-shaped mesh sponge is limited to use as solely a bathing implement and does not permit ready attachment of removable objects to the sponge. Such objects might include a bar of soap or a water friendly bath toy. The purpose of the attachment could be to convert the bathing implement into a bath toy or an out-of-bath toy, to provide a pleasing bathing-area decoration or store display, or to enable ready application of soap to a bather.
Another problem relative to children, particularly young children, is that they often dislike bathing. In addition, young children often do not apply, or find it difficult to apply, a sufficient amount of lathered soap on their own to their bodies. At least a partial solution to this problem is the use of bath toys which help make a bath more enjoyable for the child.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,983,435 issued to Osborne addresses the above problem by providing a combination bathing implement and bath toy. To this end, the bathing implement can be readily grasped by the hand of a young child, can be used to cleanse and exfoliate skin, can be utilized as a bath toy, and provides an aesthetically pleasing bathing-area decoration. Another example of a bathing implement particularly intended for use by a child is provided by U.S. Des. Pat. No. 405,925 issued to Badillo.
Other body washing implements intended for use by adults are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,727,277 and 5,787,542 issued to Chien; U.S. Pat. No. 5,944,032 issued to Masterson; U.S. Pat. No. 5,465,452 issued to Girardot et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,713,094 issued to Markey et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 1,397,611 issued to Bailey. The Chien '277 and Markey patents disclose body washing implements having a handle. The Chien '542 and Bailey patents disclose body washing implements which are adapted to readily hold a bar of soap. The Masterson patent discloses the use of a squeezable bladder which contains liquid soap and which can be attached to a ball-shaped bathing implement. The Girardot patent discloses a toroidal, or donut-shaped, bathing implement which does not have a dense center core.
Although the above referenced bathing implements may be satisfactory for their intended purposes, there is a need for an improved and novel bathing implement that has multi uses other than as a bathing implement, that is intended for use by both children and adults, and that provides a decorative appearance both in the home of the consumer and in a display in the marketplace. The unique implement should enable attachments, such as toys, soap, containers, etc., to be readily secured to the implement, readily removed from the implement, and readily replaced back into the implement.